SDSU student awarded prestigious National Science Foundation fellowship

Isabel Dalton, a graduate student from the South Dakota State University Department of Natural Resource Management, has been accepted into the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program.

This selective recognition is for graduate students who “have demonstrated potential for significant achievements in research.”

“I can't overstate how delighted I am that Isa was awarded one of these fellowships,” said Katie Wenzell, assistant professor in the Department of Natural Resource Management and Dalton’s adviser. “This award recognizes her outstanding accomplishments and her potential to become a leader in science and education. I could not be prouder of her success.”

Considered one of the country’s most prestigious fellowship programs, the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program annually awards outstanding graduate students with three years of financial support including tuition and a salary stipend. More than 14,000 students from across the country applied, representing a wide range of disciplines from computer engineering to behavioral sciences. Only 2,500 students were awarded fellowships with less than 500 going to students studying life sciences.

“A fellowship like this can have a huge impact on a graduate student and their research,” said Wenzell, who also received the competitive fellowship as a graduate student. “The award is a really impressive signal on a student's CV and can help them stand out, both now and throughout their career. Beyond that, it also means a student can have more independence in their Ph.D. research and really take on a leadership role in shaping and executing their research directions.”

Dalton is pursuing a Ph.D. in biological sciences with a specialization in natural resource management. Her research is focused on the flower Castilleja sessiliflora, more commonly known as the downy painted cup or downy paintbrush, and its relationship to the pollinators it relies on for repopulating. The flowers’ natural range is vast, covering from southern Canada to northern Mexico and including the entirety of the Great Plains.

The number of types of pollinators visiting the flower varies greatly throughout the region. Wenzell conducted a range-wide survey of the downy paintbrush and pollinators as part of her own doctoral work, and Dalton hopes to do a deeper investigation into the relationship between the plants, pollinators and their interacting traits.

Research into native species, how they evolved over time and their relationship to other species within their ecosystems is incredibly important to conservation efforts for prairie species and understanding plant and animal interactions as a whole. While crucial for continued natural resource management, the work is also a passion project for Dalton.

“There's a million reasons why scientists do the things that they do. For me, I love my field (pollinator ecology),” Dalton said. “I get to be outside for part of the year. I get to be inside for part of the year. I also get to present and talk to people about my work. It's beautiful.”

Receiving the fellowship is validation of the importance of her research, but also for her journey to becoming the scientist she is today. Born and raised in New Mexico, Dalton is a descendant of the Genízaros, a Spanish-speaking group of indigenous people from Nuevo México (now New Mexico and Colorado). Her connection to the land is what drives her passion for science. Being able to stay true to herself and represent her heritage while achieving professional success is one of her proudest accomplishments.

“I can't boil it down to how much this means to me in any of the words that I possess,” Dalton said. “I'm representing me. I'm representing my family. I’m representing my state. I’m representing the generations that came before me. I feel incredible being able to say that I didn't have to change myself to be nationally accomplished.”

The flowering season for the Castilleja sessiliflora in the northern Great Plains is rapidly approaching, so Dalton will soon be traveling throughout the upper Midwest to collect samples of plants and pollinators to be analyzed in the fall.